Spirit Sojourn
by KarissaEB
Summary: Rating... for now. There's not too much I can say about this in the room I have, except that it won't be a waste of time. It has to do with Revelation, though. Strongly Christian, with good romance and humor mixed in. Please don't flame it though, I w
1. Prologue

Spirit Sojourn  
by Kari

Note: Best viewed in maximized window. ^^;;

A/N: Hm... new font. Good, century gothic was boring me... err...anyways...

Okay guys, this is the beginning of a REEALLY long fic here. It's my biggest project I think I'll EVER take on... novel-sized. You want an idea of the length? I don't plan on finishing it until sometime close to this summer, if that. It'll probably take even longer than that. . Oy... This is just the prologue, so it's not a fair introduction to the really long chapters I like to write. *grins at TK* I'm not going to tell you what the fic is about, but when you read the prologue, you'll have a pretty good idea. ^_^ To quote my editor, this fic "has the potential to become longer than 'Yesterday/Winter/Ashes' combined. Longer than 'Genesis'. Longer than anything ff.n has ever seen." I plan on spreading it WAY out though, so I hope you guys either have a LOT of time on your hands or you plan on keeping up with me while I write it!

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon... and I suppose you could say I don't exactly own the plot basis either... even though I kinda do. You'll understand what I'm saying when you read.

Dedications:  
First, to God, who without His help and divine guidance I could NEVER have come up with something like this, much less WRITE it!   
Second, to my editor, TK Takaishi (Get to know him! And read his fics, they're incredible). He agreed to the job a WHILE back, and has helped me immensely *every* step of the way on this. I honestly don't think I could do this without him, and I'm truly grateful to have him in my life. *laughs* You poor thing... having to edit 26-page chapters... AGAIN... ^_~ Thank you SO much!  
Third, to Brent Warren, Ash, Whit, Steph, and Logan (the family ^^), Robster80, Jen, hikari (onee-akuma-chan, however many titles we can come up with for you, lol ^_~), TS (tachi! It's tachi!! I swear I'll remember how to pluralize one day...), Dreamwalker (ototo-kun ^^), Raine, Caspian, Daisukefire, and Phawx (did I forget anybody?): I cherish each and every one of you more than you know! Thank you guys for always being there!   
Also, to Kale and *again* TK, whose writing and spirit has encouraged me to not be afraid to include SO much of my faith in my writing.   
And last, but definitely not least, to everyone else I know but can't name for the time being... I care for each of you, and all of you are always in my thoughts and prayers! Never think that no one cares for you, because I do.  
To the readers, as well... because GEEZ, this is going to be long! ^^

Well, I think I've rambled on enough, whadda you think? ^_^ That's it for now, on to the prologue! R&R, please! God bless!

Kari :)   
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Spirit Sojourn  
Prologue: Where, Oh Where Have The Digimon Gone?

**********************

With her usual catlike grace, Gatomon jumped from tree to tree, swinging on the occasional branch and effortlessly landing on her feet wherever she fell. She was on her way to meet up with her longtime friends, Patamon, Wizardmon, Biyomon, and Agumon. More of her friend Digimon were supposed to meet up with her and the others, but for reasons unknown to her, they were unable to make the gathering. She did know, through Gabumon, that the other "chosen" Digimon not in attendance were going to have their own meeting later on that day to make up for missing this one.

Very unlike her, Gatomon was running late at the moment. Wizardmon had told her that the meeting time was right after the sun had cleared the eastern edge of Infinity Mountain, and it had passed that edge around five minutes prior. "Hurry, hurry, hurry!" she chanted to herself, her tail ring bouncing in time with her steps, signifying each second as it quickly passed by.

A few more minutes later, Gatomon jumped down from a high branch and landed in the center of a group of small Digimon. "A little late, ne?" Wizardmon chided, a teasing grin on his features... at least, what appeared to be a grin. Wizardmon's long cloak shielded all but with which he saw the world, and no one had ever seen his smile. He had no need for the rest of his face though... his large, green eyes accurately expressed his every emotion.

Gatomon growled playfully in his direction. "Hai, a bit... I had a little crisis to take care of with a Gotsumon and a Unimon," she explained with a secretive grin, straightening herself a bit more. "And I dropped my Seisho on the way and I had to stop to go back and get it." 

Patamon smiled. "Well, now that you're here, we can start our Seisho study meeting!" he squeaked, revealing a small brown book and flipping to a page. Gatomon pulled out her own small book, black as opposed to brown, and turned to the page Patamon was on. Wizardmon, Agumon, and Biyomon followed suit with their navy blue, orange, and red books respectively.

"Uh... where did we leave off again?" Agumon asked, searching through the rear section of his book. Biyomon laughed and reached over to him. With a few quick flicks of her wing, she turned to the correct page and pointed to the part the group had left off at. Agumon sheepishly rubbed the back of his head and thanked her. She giggled graciously at the orange Digimon and told him she was finding him a bookmark as soon as possible.

Wizardmon smiled again and looked around at his friends. "Who wants to read first?"

"I will!" Patamon said eagerly. The others turned their eyes onto the pages in their books and settled down to listen and read.

He began:  
" 'And now the word of the Lord is ringing our from you to people everywhere, even beyond Server, for wherever we go we find people   
telling us about your faith in God.' "

He then paused, cueing someone else to continue reading aloud. Gatomon took him up on it.

She continued:  
" 'We don't need to tell them about it, for they themselves keep talking about the wonderful welcome you gave us and how you turned  
away from idols to serve the true and living God.' "

" 'And they speak of how you are looking forward to the coming of God's son from Heaven - Jesu, whom God raised from the dead,' "  
Biyomon recited after taking over for Gatomon.

" 'He is the one who -will- rescue us from the terrors of the coming judgment,' "  
Wizardmon finished.

Agumon looked around at his companions with a content grin on his reptilian features. "Good thing," he said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, you wouldn't make it through the judgment if you paid God to save you!" Patamon teased. Agumon huffed in a mock indignant attitude while the rest of his friends laughed.

"When do you think Jesu will return?" Biyomon asked suddenly, after the laughter had died down.

"No one knows... it says in 1 Thessalonians that the return will be unexpected, as a thief in the night," Wizardmon replied thoughtfully.

"Specifically... 'For you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying "Peace and safety", destruction will come upon them suddenly, as the evolving process comes upon a digital monster for the first time, and they will not escape.' 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3," Patamon added.

"Yeah, we all know that verse... but just because we won't know until it happens doesn't mean we can't take a really good guess!" Gatomon said cheerfully. The small group of Digimon happily continued their conversation, so consumed in it that they didn't take notice of a young man, accompanied by a Demidevimon, walking near them.

The young man was tall... around six feet or so, with piercing, almost cold blue eyes and straight pure brown hair cut just below his ears. He was skinny, but had a nice build to him so he didn't look as scrawny as he really was. His complexion was clear, and his features were somewhat juvenile in appearance, yet he looked beyond his years. He had pleasantly tanned skin, a result of many years on a swim team. One would think by looking at him that he had many girls that found him very attractive.

"What are they talking about, Demidevimon?" the 19-year-old asked the small, bowling-ball-like Digimon flapping next to him.

"I think they're talking about the second coming of Jesu," Demidevimon answered as he landed on his partner's shoulder to relieve his wings of work. The young man scoffed.

"Jesu??? What is that, like Jesus or something?"

Demidevimon looked confused. "Jesus? Who's that?"

"Some guy that these people called Christians," the boy spat out the word, "believe was the son of God," he explained flippantly. "Personally, I think it's a load of BS."

Demidevimon cast a surprised look in his partner's direction. "Well, if you say you don't believe that, how do you know about it in the first place?"

Nicolas laughed sarcastically and crossed his arms over his chest, shifting his weight to his left foot simultaneously. "You've never met Christians, have you?" Demidevimon looked pointedly into his eyes, and Nicolas grinned maliciously. "Of course you haven't. Unless these Digimon are kind of like them. Christians have this really annoying thing they do that they like to call witnessing, or evangelizing. They walk around and go places far from where they're from just to talk about Jesus, thinking that they're the best thing since sliced bread or something. They all wear these smiles like they're really trying to do people some good, but you can see right through it." 

Nicolas paused and looked again to the small group of happy Digimon in the clearing. "Those Christians are such hypocrites... they go around preaching, telling people to be good and obey all these laws that their God gives them, and then they go around breaking them all the time! I'd rather go to Hell, like they're telling me I'm going to, than become something like that."

Demidevimon remained silent for a moment as he and his human friend watched Patamon, Gatomon, Wizardmon, Biyomon, and Agumon chatter away happily about this Jesu. He decided to ask his friend the question that had been swimming around in his tiny mind. "................Nicolas, what do you believe?"

"Hm..." Nicolas thought a moment, then replied, "Dunno... but I DEFINITELY don't believe in G..."

Nicolas stopped when he felt the sudden release of pressure from his shoulder. Huh? he thought. He looked up to see if Demidevimon had flown off of his shoulder, but saw nothing but lush green.

He has come...

He couldn't have flown off though... I would've heard him, or felt air blown from his flapping... He thought a moment, completely baffled. Nicolas then looked down to search the ground for his friend... but that too showed no sign of the small Digimon. A slight fear stirred in the pit of his stomach, but Nicolas tried to ignore it. He strained his ears to try and hear his friend, but heard nothing. And now that he was paying attention, where before there had been so many background noises you couldn't differentiate the sounds, he noticed that now... now he didn't hear anything at all...

The coming will be silent...

Thinking that maybe Demidevimon had joined that other group of Digimon that was talking about the Jesu guy, Nicolas looked to where they were... or, as he soon saw, where they had been. What the hell?? Nicolas ran into the clearing and saw five small books sitting next to or in front of five small indentions in the grass. There were blades of grass still setting themselves upright from being sat on. One of the books, the orange one, had a page in mid-turn before it slowly fell to the side.

"What happened here... and where are those Digimon??" Nicolas wondered aloud. He cupped his hands around his mouth and called out for his friend. "Demidevimon?" He broke into a light jog as he went into the forest to look for the small Digimon. "Demidevimon!?"

There will be no sound, for God's chosen  
will have been returned to Him...

As he ran, he spotted a pair of tracks imprinted in the ground... probably made by a Tortomon or a Monochromon, he assumed. Nicolas followed them for a bit, hoping to find somebody, until suddenly, the tracks ceased to be. The last track looked strange though, compared to the others... Nicolas bent down closer to investigate and discovered that instead of a whole track, there was only half of one... only the heel had hit the ground, apparently. Nicolas's eyes widened and he backed away from the path of the missing Digimon.

The return of His chosen will be sudden...

Feeling panic in the pit of his stomach, Nicolas again began his jog... which unconsciously grew into a run... and then into a sprint... to look for not only Demidevimon, but for ANY Digimon that could help him. His icy blue eyes darted frantically from side to side, searching for any sign of the Digimon. All he found was unfinished meals, incomplete tracks, signs of missed attacks, and NO sign whatsoever of a struggle of any kind... just the familiar, exotic plant life of the Digital World.

There will be things left undone,  
for the Chosen will not hesitate in returning  
to the Father...

Nicolas ran, blinded by panicked tears, until he emerged from the forest and stumbled upon a vast clearing. It was in the shape of a circle, and surrounding it was forests, mountains, and streams. The clearing seemed so... empty... where normally it would've had many Digimon in and around it, there was nothing but tall grass and scattered wildflowers. Everything he normally saw... all those Digimon he had laid eyes on earlier that day... had somehow vanished.

Not one will see them disappear...  
They will just cease to be on Earth.

He numbly dropped to his knees, his mind spinning with confusion... and worry... and dread. Blindly, he stared straight ahead of him, his eyes wide and glazed over with shock. His mind called helplessly for his Digimon partner, since the words just wouldn't sound from his mouth...

Demidevimon...

Demidevimon...

"DEMIDEVIMON!!!!!"

His scream echoed throughout the empty clearing, yet nothing stirred...

Nothing but his echo returned his cry...

Nothing sprang to life in response to his scream....

Not even the wind blew.

**********************

"For you know very well that the day of the Lord  
will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying,  
"Peace and safety",  
destruction will come on them suddenly,  
as labor pains on a pregnant woman,  
and they will not escape."  
1 Thessalonians 5:2-3

To be continued...

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A/N: So what do you think? *shakes head* I just set myself up for a LONG fic, ne? I hope the prologue gave you that vague idea of what the entire story is about. All my other chapters are around 20 pages... give a lot or take a lot. I think that's just the average... yeah. ^^;;. Since, as all of us know, author alerts are gone, I'm setting up a mailing list for my own author alert, as many other authors have already done. If you'd like to be on that list, either say so in your review (please leave one! ^^;;), or email me, and you'll be on it! Likewise, if you are on it, and would like to be taken off, just tell me and I'll do that too. ^_^ Hope you liked! 

Kari :)


	2. A Strange Dream

Spirit Sojourn

by Kari

A/N: Aaaaaaand.... *drumroll* here's chapter one!! *cymbals clash* (j/k.) I feel... so accomplished! I'm actually moving along with this story! Guess I can thank TK and Brent for that. ^_^ This is the first full-length chapter in the fic. Yikes. ^^;;; 

Disclaimer: Don't own Digimon, don't own the song (though I haven't quite figured out who it DOES belong to yet...), just own the story. ^_~

Dedications: To everybody that's behind me on this one. If not for you guys, this wouldn't be possible. ^_^

*yawns* I'm tired... let's get this going! I'm not forgetting anything, am I? Don't think so... Hm. Well, there ya go. On with the fic!

Kari :)

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Spirit Sojourn  
Chapter 1: A Strange Dream  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tai Kamiya stood nervously adjusting his tuxedo as he looked at the long aisle before him. He gulped audibly as the procession music started to play. Smiling widely, he watched as the flower girls, Mika, Ayaka, and Sarai, bounced happily down the aisles, tossing sakura blossom petals all over both the floor and those unlucky enough to be sitting on the aisle sides of the pews.

He felt an elbow playfully nudge his side. "Nervous?" the girl asked him.

"Sort of," he admitted.

"Tai, it's not even your wedding!" she laughed. Tai watched warily out of the corner of his eye as Mimi and Joe, directly ahead of him, began their slow procession down the aisle.

"I know, but I never thought I'd see my little sister get married before me! She is only twenty."

The girl giggled. "Don't worry, Tai, I'm sure you'll find that lucky girl soon enough."

I may already have, he thought to himself, but I don't know how to tell her.

Tai broke out of his thoughts when he realized it was their turn to walk the aisle. He looked down at the beautiful bridesmaid by his side and offered his arm. "Well Sora, shall we go?" She smiled as she hooked her arm through his. Slowly the two walked forward, looking straight ahead as rehearsed, squinting whenever bright flashes of light went off around them. "By the time this is over, I'll be blind," Tai muttered to Sora. She stifled a laugh as best she could.

When the two reached the end of the aisle, they broke apart and took their places on their respective sides. As Tai passed the bundle of nerves that was the groom, he winked in approval. The groom smiled weakly and resumed taking deep breaths to calm his nerves. Tai took his place next to the best man and stood with his hands clasped in front of him.

"We should've known," the best man mumbled to him, who chuckled a bit. Tai looked at the man.

"Known what?" he asked.

"Known that all those little things to help these two along would turn out like this," the man answered with a grin.

"Shut UP, Matt!" the groom hissed, elbowing Matt as discreetly as possible. Matt and Tai both managed to keep their laughter at bay, but barely. Yolei Inoue Ichijouji, whom Kari had chosen as her maid of honor, began her solitary walk down the aisle. The groom stiffened, knowing Kari would be next to emerge from the rear of the church.

Matt placed his hand on the groom's shoulder and gave a reassuring squeeze. "Don't worry, little bro, this is your wedding! You're marrying the girl of your dreams! Relax!" TK glanced sideways at his brother and prepared to say something, but the wedding march began to play and his attention snapped to the back of the room.

TK's jaw did all but scrape the floor when he saw his bride. She looked absolutely radiant as she, escorted by her father, began to walk the aisle. Her pure white wedding dress with long sleeves of delicate lace flowed around her like a fallen flower drifting on a summer's breeze. The dress had once belonged to her mother, and TK knew she was proud to wear it.

Kari herself seemed to float on air as she and her dad walked slowly through the standing congregation. Halfway down the aisle, she lifted her eyes to meet TK's and smiled. TK felt his legs turn to jelly... his nervousness melted, as did the rest of him, when she smiled.

Their eyes locked, and after receiving a kiss on the cheek from her misty-eyed father, Kari met TK at front and center and the two joined hands. Tai and Sora's gazes met and he winked at her, causing her to giggle and smile back.

The wedding march ended and the congregation took their seats once more. Kari and TK, hands still joined, turned their attention to the pastor that they had asked to perform the ceremony. The old man stood before them, wearing his nicest suit and holding his old, black, leather-bound Bible in his left hand, smiling brightly. "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join this young man and this young woman in holy matrimony," he said in his usual fatherly tone of voice. TK squeezed Kari's hand, almost to make sure she was really standing beside him and marrying him. He felt like he was dreaming... this was his dream come true, after all.

The ceremony flew by for him... the words coming from the pastor's mouth seemed a blur and just barely registered in his mind. Finally the time came where TK and Kari were told to say their vows to each other. TK faced Kari and tenderly took hold of her hands. His crystalline blue eyes met the ruby-brown of the young woman he had grown up with... and he had to fight to remember what he was going to say. He smiled and took a deep breath...

"Kari... so much to say! I've made a lot of promises during my lifetime, and I try not to break them. I don't think I've ever broken one I've made to you, and I don't plan to start now. So I promise you now, Kari, whenever you need me, I'll be right there next to you. Whenever your hope disappears, I'll bring it back. If the world were to turn against you, I will never leave you. I will love you with everything I am, through your bright times, and your dark. When those dark times come, I'll be the one to remind you of the light you bring to me and to the world and bring you out of those times. I will respect you, honor you, assist you in any way I can, and you will always be treated like the most important person in the entire world, because that's what you are to me. I promise to protect you and be with only you, always and forever. I will never betray you, Kari. Light and hope go together as one, and never will they be split apart. You'll never be without the selfless, unconditional love you've always longed for, because I'm giving it to you, and I can never take it back, even if I wanted to."

TK finished and smiled, taking a deep breath and releasing it quickly to stop himself from shaking. The pastor told TK to take the ring and place it on Kari's finger. "With this ring," he repeated after the old man, "I thee wed." The ring slid onto Kari's finger perfectly.

"And now the bride will state her vows, which she has also prepared," the old man told the congregation with a smile. Kari took her eyes off the gold band on her finger and looked up. Just as Takeru had done, she took in a shaky breath and began.

"Oh boy... TK, you know I never break my promises either. I make it a point not to. So I'm promising you this very moment that everything you expect of me... everything you've ever wanted... I will meet those expectations. I will respect you, love you unconditionally, cherish you for the blessing you are. With every sunruse, I will wake up with you, and with every sunset, I'll fall asleep next to you. I will never leave you, forsake you, or let you down. When your enemies pursue you, I'll fight them off as best I can to give you time to get away. When things seem impossible, or hopeless, I'll make them possible and re-light your hope. You'll never be without direction, because I'll be there with a compass and a map so you don't have to embarrass yourself and ask someone where to go. Never be afraid to ask anything of me... I'll gladly do whatever you ask just to make you happy, even if it's not something I enjoy. Take my heart, it's yours, and will never belong to another."

Kari laughed a bit, overflowing with joy, as she wiped away a couple of tears that had escaped TK's eyes, and he mimicked her actions on her. Never had there been seen a couple that was this close, this innocent, this... perfect. The old man motioned for Kari to take the ring for TK and place it on his finger. It slid on his as easily as her ring had slid on her finger. "With this ring, I thee wed," Hikari repeated after the pastor. TK looked down at the ring for a moment, then took a deep breath, as if he were letting go of his nervousness... which, in reality, had disappeared long ago.

The pastor smiled widely. "With the power vested in me," he said with flourish, "I now pronounce you husband... and wife." Kari and TK smiled even brighter, if that were possible. "You may kiss the bride," he told TK, winking at him. TK looked at Kari and his smile reduced to a small, sweet, boyish one. Together, they leaned in, and met in a kiss. The congregation erupted with cheers, as most of them had waited their whole lives, practically, to see this moment. TK and Kari broke apart a few moments later and laughed at their cheering family. TK then held tightly to Kari's hand and started back down the aisle to exit the church. Their friends and family followed suit to watch the newlyweds get into their white limousine and drive off towards the place where the reception was being held.

"The first link is made..."

*******************************

Fortunately (or unfortunately, whichever way one would look at it), the reception was being held in the gymnasium that belonged to the church, which was about a five minute drive away. The people that attended the wedding walked to the gym, while the driver of the limo drove around aimlessly for some twenty minutes. Tai and Sora, accompanied by Matt, Joe, Mimi, Izzy, Yolei, Ken, Davis, and Cody walked together with their children and loved ones to the gym, chatting away happily about the wedding.

"Well, as much as I hate to admit it," Davis said thoughtfully, "I'm glad they got married." Yolei laughed at this.

"After all those times I had to comfort you and make you feel better when TK and Kari went off by themselves in the Digital World, you're glad they got married?" she ranted. The others laughed. Yolei had a way with sarcasm... next to fixing computers and Ken, it was her favorite thing. "I swear, you men..."

"You still helped me, Yolei. If you hadn't brought me to my senses later on, I wouldn't have met Maika here," Davis told her, putting his arm around a girl with blonde hair and green eyes walking next to him. The girl blushed.

"Shutup Davis, you're embarrassing me," she giggled in a bit of a "valley girl" accent. The others sweatdropped... Maika was a sweet girl, but, uh... she was one of the biggest ditzes in Odaiba. But for whatever reason, Davis didn't seem to notice at all. Maybe because he was a bit of a ditz himself.

"Can we hurry? My stomach's growling," Izzy said, patting his abdomen gently.

"I've been hurrying, but you people are slowing me down," Tai joked. "Let's pick up the pace, shall we?"

*****************************

The Digidestined, surrounded by family and friends, clapped and cheered when TK and Kari cut their cake together. Immediately TK fed a piece to Kari but "accidentally" missed and got it all over her nose instead. Kari retaliated by taking a small piece covered in frosting and smearing it all over TK's mouth. They cleaned each other off with either hands, napkins, or lips, laughing and smiling like there was no tomorrow, and sat down at the head table together to eat their cake while everyone else got theirs.

After the cake and food was eaten, the DJ announced that it was time for the first dance between the new husband and wife. TK and Kari walked hand in hand onto the dance floor and seemed to meld together so much that if not for the black and white of the tuxedo and dress, one almost couldn't tell where one stopped and the other started. That's what TK and Kari were like together. So in touch with each other that they almost seemed like one person. And now, finally, they were joined together as one.

After the newlyweds' dance, more music started and couples flowed onto the floor. Tai and Sora, Joe and Mimi, Davis and Maika, Izzy and his wife, Kasami, TK and his mom, and Kari and her dad were among the many happy dancing people. "Hey Tai, share the wealth, will ya?" Matt laughed, walking over to him and Sora. Sora looked up at Tai, who smiled down on her and winked. 

"Go ahead, I need something to drink anyway!" he smiled. Sora grinned at him.

"Yeah, but you owe me more dances after Matt's done with me!" she called to him over the music. Tai patted his chest over his heart once, then brought his fist to his mouth and kissed it. That was his way of showing that he promised to do something that was asked of him. Sora thought it was kind of cute when he did that, though she couldn't remember where he had picked that up...

Tai went back to the head table, where some of the children of the Digidestined were playing together. Once he flopped down into a chair, the children rushed over to him, calling him "Uncle Tai!" Tai laughed heartily, picked up Sarai and Clark Ishida, and sat them on his lap. Jim Izumi, Mika Kido, and Ayaka Ichijouji clung to his arms and legs, and Melina Izumi came up behind him and threw her small, eight-year-old arms around his shoulders.

"Whoa, whoa, I'm happy to see you guys too!" Tai laughed, playing with each of the children. Sarai and Clark Ishida were four-year-old twins whose mother and Matt's later wife, Naoko, died in a plane crash. Their blonde hair and blue eyes eliminated any doubt of their relation to Yamato, and they had the fun-loving spirit of their mother inside of them. Jim Izumi was Izzy's real son, two years of age with flaming red hair and the cutest freckles, and Melina, with black hair and eyes, was adopted soon after. In reality, Melina was the daughter of some of Izzy's friends from college, but they had mysteriously vanished from the face of the earth one day. No one had been able to find her parents, and Izzy readily took her in. Three-year-old Mika Kido was Mimi and Joe's first child, and the two had recently announced that soon, Mika would have a little brother or sister. Her light brown curls bounced along happily with the child, and her black eyes sparkled in any light. Ayaka Ichijouji was Mika's 'best friend', even though she was a year younger than Mika. She did like to play with Jim a lot, which Izzy and Ken weren't too happy about sometimes, but Kasami and Yolei thought it was the cutest thing. Tai liked watching Jim and Ayaka play together, mostly because it reminded him of how he and Sora used to play together when they were kids.

"Unca Tai, will y-you dance wif me?" little Mika asked, her eyes sparkling, as usual. Tai smiled and winked at her.

"Of course I will, Mika, my partner's dancing with someone else anyway!" Ayaka and Sarai pulled down on Tai's tux sleeves as he got up with Mika. 

"But Unca Tai, what about me?" Ayaka asked.

"And me too?" Sarai added.

Tai sighed with a laugh. "And you too, Melina?" The small girl smiled shyly and shook her head.

"I can't dance," she said softly. Tai grinned and knelt before the young girl, taking hold of her shoulders.

"Tell ya what," Tai whispered so the others wouldn't hear. "I'll dance with you after I'm done with these three, and you can stand on my feet, okay? I can't dance either, I just move around." Melina giggled as Tai gently ruffled her hair. "Okay squirt?"

Melina nodded and sat down in the closest seat to her, next to Clark and Jim. With Ayaka and Sarai following close behind, Tai hoisted Mika up and trotted onto the dance floor. He swung Mika around and bounced her up and down on his hip a few times, then put her down, telling her that she had to share 'Unca Tai' with Ayaka and Sarai. Grinning widely, she bounced back over to the head table, where she began chasing Clark around. Tai did the same with Ayaka and Sarai as he did with Mika, and then, pretending to be overtired, dragged them back (sitting on his feet) to the head table.

"Hey Uncle Tai, can we dance with Aunt Sora?" Clark asked, Jim standing behind him.

"Or Aunt Kari or Aunt Mimi?" Jim added shyly. Tai laughed.

"I think your Aunt Sora and Aunt Kari are a little busy right now, but I'm sure I can get Mimi over here to dance with you two," he told them with a grin. "Jim, why don't you dance with Ayaka, hm? Clark, you should dance with Mika. Right now, I have a dance with Melina!" Tai walked over to where Melina was seated and bowed low and exaggeratedly to the young girl. "May I... have this dance, young maiden?" he asked her, imitating (badly, Melina thought) a British gentleman. Melina laughed and placed her tiny hand in Tai's. Tai flashed her a warm smile and escorted her onto the dance floor on his knees.

Sora saw him from where she was still dancing with Matt and laughed. "Taichi Kamiya, you are going to ruin your tux!" she shouted to him across the floor.

"But my dance partner is this tall!" Tai shouted back, holding his hand just above Melina's head. "And I like it that way!" Sora laughed before continuing whatever conversation she was having with Matt, and Melina giggled shyly. Tai stood up and Melina stood on his feet, and the two began to dance. 

"Hey Uncle Tai?" she asked him.

"Yes, Melina?"

"Are you and Aunt Sora going to have kids someday?"

Tai stopped short and didn't realize the blush that was quickly appearing on his cheeks. "Uh..."

"Everybody else has kids, why don't you and Aunt Sora?" Melina asked innocently.

"Well Melina, you see... Sora and I aren't married."

"Why not?"

"I don't know... we just aren't," he told her with a small smile.

"Are you going to get married?"

"I don't know, Melina."

"Do you want to get married?" she continued asking.

Tai paused. "Sure, why not?" He didn't say specifically that he wanted to marry Sora, but he wondered if he did.

Melina hugged Tai's waist and tried to stay on as Tai moved with her. "I think you and Aunt Sora should get married, Uncle Tai." Tai's blush became even brighter, but he still smiled down on the young girl.

"Well, thank you Melina, why don't you tell that to Aunt Sora?" he winked at her.

"Okay!" Tai hadn't meant right then, and possibly not ever, but Melina quickly let go of her 'uncle' and rushed across the dance floor to Sora, narrowly missing Davis dancing with Maika. Tai chuckled softly at the girl and sat down at the head table again to watch Sora's reaction. It was better than he thought it would be. Sora's face went pink and her eyes widened, and soon enough she laughed. Matt overheard, apparently, and burst out laughing. Sora said something to the small girl and then, as Melina ran back over to him, looked to Tai and raised an amused eyebrow. He simply shrugged and mouthed 'I never said ANYTHING!' to her. Sora laughed and then again turned her attention towards Matt. Melina came rushing back with an innocent look on her face. "Aunt Sora said to tell you that she'd only marry you if you were the last man on earth," she reported. Tai laughed, then looked over to Sora with a mock hurt expression. She winked back at him and playfully kissed her own fist.

Tai played around with the children a bit more, pausing to dance with Kari and his mother once each, until the music stopped for the DJ to take a short break. Sora walked back over to Tai and flopped down next to him. "Oy... dancing in heels takes a lot out of you," she sighed, glad for the relief for her feet. Tai laughed and put a hand on her shoulder.

"You up to dancing some more? 'Cause you own me a whole lot more dances, you know... or, as you say, I still owe you." Sora sighed, smiled, and shook her head. Tai's eyes widened. "You're not?" He actually sounded worried.

Sora laughed. "Of course I'm up to dancing with you more, but I don't think I will right away. Dancing with Matt for that long did a number on my feet." At this very moment, the DJ came back from his break and started the music up again, slower than before. TK and Kari were the first ones back on the floor, of course. As a few more couples wandered out onto the dance floor, Tai looked over at Sora.

"Pleeeeeeeeease Sora? Come dance with me?" he begged her. Sora looked at him, trying to keep a straight face.

"No Tai, not yet." She wasn't very successful in keeping a grin off her face. Tai got out of his chair and knelt down in front of Sora and took her hands in his. He put on his best puppy-dog eyes and released their persuading power on her. Sora laughed a bit, but still said no. Tai pushed his face closer to hers and made his eyes bigger... at least, he thought so. Sora smiled. "Oh alright," she said exasperatedly.

"Really?"

"Yeeeeah, sure, why not."

"Alright!" Tai jumped up and pulled Sora up with him. Together they joined Kari and TK and the others on the dance floor. Sora still seemed a bit uneasy on her feet, and Tai looked to her with concern. "Sora... are you sure you can dance right now? You almost look like you're limping."

Sora looked up to Tai with a grateful smile. "Don't worry, Tai... as a friend always told me, 'Walk it off'," she told him, referring to an old friend of hers. Tai laughed... Sora's friend had also been one of his at a time.

"Alright, if you're sure..."

"I'm sure!"

Tai flashed Sora his warmest smile as he gingerly positioned his hands on her waist. She wrapped her arms around his neck as they happily danced together. As they went on, however, Tai couldn't help but notice Sora's growing discomfort. Finally, he resolved to do what he had once seen that same friend do to a girl during a school dance.

He put one of his arms behind Sora's knees and kept the other by her lower torso and scooped her up off of her feet. Sora was caught off-guard and let out a tiny gasp as she felt the weight lifted off her feet. She tightly grasped Tai's neck and shoulders so she wouldn't fall. "Tai, what are you doing?" she half-laughed, half-scolded.

"Well, our friend DID say to walk it off, but he also did this to a girl at a dance once. She seemed to like it a lot," Tai told her, grinning wildly. He continued to sway to the beat of the music, rocking Sora back and forth gently as a parent would do to a newborn. Sora laughed heartily, blushing under the gazes of her friends and family. Even TK and Kari were looking at the two with incredulous expressions. The dance went on and on and not once did Tai complain or put Sora down. When it finally ended, he replaced Sora back onto her feet and she smiled up at him.

"Thanks Tai," she said sweetly.

Tai pasted on a cocky, western-looking grin, winked, and nodded to her. "No problem, dancin' partner," he said in his best southern accent. Sora burst out laughing. 

"Tai... don't quit your day job, I don't think you'd make it doing impressions."

The rest of the night went on with plenty of laughter and fun until at last it was time to go home. Kari threw her bouquet, which Sora caught, and TK flung the garter, which, believe it or not, Clark caught. TK had meant for Tai to catch it, but he purposely didn't. He knew how TK and Kari had always been convinced that he and Sora were perfect for each other, but they were content with being best friends for life. Sora had given Mika the bouquet after Clark had caught the garter, claiming that she was "just holding it" for the young girl. Mika was ecstatic and quickly threw her tiny arms around Clark's arm. Clark grinned and started to run off and, as usual, Mika and Clark started their inclusive game of tag.

****************************

TK and Kari left at 11:30 to get to the honeymoon resort they had chosen. It wasn't that far away from Tokyo. Only an hour-long drive away was the beautiful city of Saitama. It was a secluded city, surrounded by a large forest filled with pine and oak trees. It seemed very out of place in that part of the Japanese countryside, but a beautiful oasis, nonetheless. The resort they would be staying at was in the center of the forest, not far from a small river that had been built specifically for the place. They had been told the whole place was very rustic.

An hour and a half later, Takeru and Hikari Takaishi reached the lavish place that they would be staying at for five days - the Shinkonryoukou Resort. TK stopped the silver Eclipse he and Kari had received as a gift (yes, a gift... someone must really love them!) and looked over to his new wife. She smiled back and took a deep breath. "Well..." Tk said quietly, looking up at the mansion-like building with trepidation, "we're here!" Kari smiled, apparently a bit nervous... most likely as to the events that would happen here at this resort. TK had to admit he was a little nervous too... the both of them were virgins... they would be the first for the other. Not that that wasn't a good thing. They had been told more than once in church that giving yourself to your husband or wife after years of waiting just for them and knowing that they've done the same was the greatest feeling in the world. And to be completely honest, they were more than ready to experience it.

TK exited the car and walked around to Kari's side. He opened her door, helped her out, and took her hand. She smiled up at him, her nervousness showing through, as well as his, and he squeezed her hand reassuringly. "Let's get going, this won't wait forever," he joked in an attempt to break the tension.

*****************************

"Tai, you just passed my house," Davis said calmly from the backseat of Tai's maroon-colored Toyota Camry. Tai looked back from his position in the driver's seat to the small apartment building he had just driven past.

"Aw crap..." he muttered under his breath, hitting the brakes and turning around. After the church gym had been cleaned from the reception, Tai had offered to drive Davis and his girlfriend, Cody and his girlfriend, and Sora home. Cody and his girlfriend had already been dropped off at the same apartment building Cody had lived in for years. She didn't live in the same building as he did, but he said he wanted to walk her home from his apartment. Davis had moved about two years prior to an apartment building ten minutes away from the complex Tai and Sora still lived in. "I'm still used to you living in the same building as me, Davis," Tai told him with a mock-wistful sigh. Sora grinned and Maika giggled while Davis glared darkly into Tai's rearview mirror.

"Don't make me knock you out with these goggles," he warned.

"I can't believe you still have those, man! They're like..." Tai paused a moment, trying to remember exactly when he had gotten them.

"Twenty years old," Sora finished for him. She had been at the party where he had been given the goggles, back when she and Tai were barely three years old.

"Yeah, that's it!" Tai snapped his fingers for effect and smiled. "Geez... I'm getting to be an old geezer," he said sarcastically.

"Hey!" Sora snapped, punching his shoulder playfully. "If you're an old geezer, I'm an old geezer... we're the same age!" Tai gulped and looked straight ahead of him. 

"W-well, then I'm the only one who's gonna be a geezer... you'll still be that same beautiful Sora we all know," Tai said quickly, trying to regain her favor. Sora's cheeks tinted pink, but Tai failed to notice. She grinned and sat back in the passenger seat, her arms crossed over her stomach.

"Whatever..." she muttered. Tai glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and smiled.

"You know I love you, Sora," he added for good measure. This time Sora turned a bright pink, but the grin remained on her face.

"You know Tai, you have this unique way of keeping my foot and your butt from getting better acquainted... it drives me nuts." Tai laughed triumphantly, trying to get a rise out of his best friend. "Watch it, Kamiya! You can't use that 'you-know-I-love-you' line all the time!" This time the both of them laughed, until Davis loudly cleared his throat.

"Uh, Tai? You gonna turn around any time soon? You just passed my house again while you were flirting with Sora."

Tai looked back again and sure enough, Davis's apartment building was just passing into his blind spot. He slammed on the brakes, causing all of his passengers to jerk forward. "ALRIGHT, Motomiya, you and your girlfriend WALK your butts to your apartment! I obviously can't GET you there!" Davis grinned and opened the side door. He helped Maika out and stuck his head inside the car before shutting the door. 

"Thanks for at least trying to get us there, Tai," he laughed.

"Shut it Davis, before I ram your goggle-wearing butt with my front bumper." Davis laughed again and pushed the door so it would shut. Before it did though, Tai called out, "And I wasn't flirting!!" Davis looked back, and nodded as if to say 'Suuuuuure you weren't flirting'. Tai glared at him before stepping on the gas and heading back to his and Sora's apartment complex.

Today must not have been Tai's day... he and Sora were hitting every single red light from Davis's apartment complex to theirs. At the fifth consecutive stop they had to make, Tai growled at the light and lightly pounded his head on the steering wheel, as if that would make it turn green. Sora smiled, leaned back in her seat, and waved her index finger in a small circle, chanting 'magic finger, turn it green' over and over until she finally pointed the finger straight at the light.

It remained red.

"Hm... it worked when we were kids," she grinned, looking over at Tai. He had his head halfway turned to face her and was looking strangely at her out of the corner of his eye. "What? It did!"

"Are you sure you laid off the alcohol at the reception?" Tai asked her, his voice muffled from his mouth being pushed up against the steering wheel. Sora giggled and punched Tai playfully again.

"Shutup, Tai."

"You want some of this? Bring it on!" Tai said loudly, gesturing for Sora to hit him again. Sora laughed and looked back out of the front of the car. 

"OH look, Tai, the light's green, you better go before the guy behind you gets ticked off," she said, rubbing the back of her head with her hand. Tai looked in his rearview mirror to see who was behind him, but saw nothing but open road.

"Sora, there's no one..." Tai looked over to Sora, but she was looking out of her window, her head propped up on her hand. Each streetlight they passed cast light on her features in such a way that made Tai almost want to stare at her for hours, but he shook each romantic thought out of his mind, replacing it with an 'I'm-lucky-to-have-such-a-pretty-best-friend' type of thing. The two drove the rest of the way home in a comfortable silence.

*****************************

TK reached for the electronic key card that was in his pocket, fumbling with the luggage he was carrying. "Why don't they have those busboys here? This is a high-class resort..." he muttered after dropping one of his bags. 

"Bellboys, dear," Kari grinned. She giggled at her husband's antics and set down her one bag. TK had insisted on carrying all of the others, but when he just couldn't get one of them without dropping all of the others, Kari had picked it up and casually strolled into the lobby of the resort, knowing full well that TK was staring after her indignantly.

"And at least they had valet parking," she offered, stifling another laugh at Takeru's expression as he tried to open the door. Finally he gave up trying to both open the door and carry the luggage at the same time, and with a loud sigh, he dropped all of the bags on the floor. Kari's laugh rang through the surprisingly quiet hallway, and TK grinned. He took the card out of his pocket and held it up triumphantly.

"Ah hah!" he shouted. Kari tried to keep him quiet so they wouldn't disturb other guests, laughing herself the whole time.

"TK, people will call management on us!" she giggled.

"Eh, I'm sure all the guests here are preoccupied anyway," he said dismissively, without really realizing the hidden meaning in what he had just said. When he remembered he was in a honeymoon resort and there was a lot more meaning in what he had just uttered, he and Kari froze and looked at each other for several moments, wide-eyed. They laughed nervously to break the overwhelming silence, looked at each other a moment more, and then TK turned his attention to the key card and opening the door. A small green light accompanied by a quiet beep signified that the door had been unlocked. TK opened the door for his wife, who walked in slowly with the suitcase she had been toting. When she saw the room, a small gasp escaped her.

"Wow..." she breathed. TK stayed back a moment to gather up the other bags, and when he finally joined Kari, he too looked around in awe at the room he and Kari had been given for their stay.

"Geez..." he whispered as he took in their surroundings. The high-ceiling room was large, and the decor intricate and beautiful. There was a rustic fireplace at one side of the room. Four large windows lined the back wall, exposing the lush forest that surrounded the building. The bed was large with white and dark green linens and a draped canopy reaching high above it, almost but not quite touching the ceiling. The floors were a dark, rich hardwood, with various rugs in strategic places. The room itself seemed to have a serene, peaceful, euphoric feeling to it. TK turned his attention to Kari after having seen the room and smiled.

"I'm not really nervous anymore," he told her quietly.

"Me neither," Kari replied just as quietly. Their bodies turned towards each other and they both dropped all the baggage they had been carrying without fully realizing it. Gently, TK took Kari's hands in his and the two drew nearer and nearer to each other, finally meeting in a passionate kiss.

************************

"Dang keys..." Sora muttered, trying to unlock her door. Tai stood behind her, the faintest amusement showing on his face.

"The lock stuck again?"

Sora looked back at him, her eyebrow raised. "Ya think?" Tai laughed a bit and stepped forward.

"Here, let me give it a try. I did open it before." Tai took Sora's hand off the key and twisted the key in the lock. It didn't move. "Eh heh... uh, yeah, just loosening it a bit..." Tai grabbed on with both hands this time and twisted the key with all he had. Sora looked on in a bit of worry and laughter as Tai struggled to open the apartment door. With one final burst of strength, Tai wrenched the key in the direction to open the door...

The key bent inside the lock and would move no further. "Damnit!" Tai cursed under his breath. Sora bowed her head and shook it slowly.

"Well, there goes any hope of getting in," she mumbled. Tai stood back, his arms crossed in front of him, and glared at the lock.

"Well, you can always stay at my house for the night," he told her.

"You sure?"

"Of course! You can sleep in my room and I'll take the couch. My parents won't mind, you've stayed at my house before." Sora smiled gratefully and sighed.

"Alright Tai, whatever you say."

Tai drove Sora to his house in less than five minutes. When they walked in the door, they were greeted warmly by Mr. and Mrs. Kamiya, who were still awake for whatever reason. "Sora, no offense, but what are you doing here?" Mr. Kamiya asked.

"Tai broke my house key," she grinned. Mrs. Kamiya looked at her son, her eyes wide.

"Taichi Kamiya, you broke Sora's house key?"

Tai blushed, brought a hand behind his head, and laughed sheepishly. "Uh... eh heh..."

"I guess Tai just doesn't realize his own strength," Mr. Kamiya said with pride, "he gets it from his dad." Mrs. Kamiya and Sora laughed. Tai and Mr. Kamiya looked at them indignantly. 

"What?" Mrs. Kamiya asked, still laughing. "Oh, I'm sorry honey, you were serious." Mr. Kamiya stood up without a word and started heading to the back of the apartment. "Kyle, where are you going?" Mrs. Kamiya called after him, rising as well.

"I'm going to bed," he answered emotionlessly.

"Honey, I was just kidding, you know!" Mrs. Kamiya told him, following him into their bedroom and shutting the door. Tai and Sora looked at each other and laughed.

"They do that sometimes," Tai explained. Sora nodded and sat down on the couch, and Tai sat beside her. "How's about a little TV, hm?"

"Tai, it's like, 1:30 in the morning, there's nothing on," Sora said, pointing to the small clock on the VCR.

"So?" Tai picked up the remote and turned on the TV, flipping to channel 58. "There's always something good on CNN!" Tai sat back and watched the TV come into focus, showing vivid scenes of what was happening in the world at perhaps that very moment. He sat back with Sora and listened to the newscast - 

"-A peace treaty was signed earlier this morning in Israel. The President of the United States presided over the signing and the Israeli Prime Minister and the Palestinian Prime Minister shook hands over the treaty, as seen on your screen. We've had stories for months on the fighting there over religious and political differences between Israel and its surrounding countries, and finally negotiations were reached to sign a cease-fire contract that will last until the border disputes are finally settled. That's our top story for the hour, and surprisingly, the next story is somewhat related. Leaders of the Messianic Judaism religion held a press conference today and claimed that more and more followers of strict Judaism are being converted to Christianity and joining the Messianic Jew movement. A census was done of the number of Christians through a worldwide effort for the spreading of the word of Jesus Christ, and it's reported that the number of Christians in the world has reached an all-time high. Members of Judaism, Buddhism, and Islam religions have launched a counter-attack, per say, in spreading their beliefs, and tensions between members of each religion is slowly, but surely, rising. In other news, a cure has been found for the West Nile Virus, which has been spreading like a wildfire thr-"

"Well, that's all well and good and interesting and all that, but I think I'll go to bed now," Sora said, standing and stretching her arms high above her head. Tai turned off the TV and stood as well. "And where d'you think you're going?" she asked.

"You wanna sleep in those clothes?" Tai asked, pointing to her, who was still wearing her maroon bridesmaid dress.

"Oh... I guess not..."

"C'mon, I'll let you borrow something to sleep in from my room." Tai led Sora down the hall to his room. Tai had his own apartment, but he still had his same room in his parents' apartment. Because of Kari and TK's wedding, he decided to stay with his parents for a few days. Besides, he felt like visiting with his family anyway. He opened the door to his room and walked in with Sora at his heels. When she stepped in, she gasped.

"Geez Tai, your room is actually clean!" she exclaimed. Tai chuckled and threw a large t-shirt at her, and she caught it laughing right before it landed on her head. "Well, the last time I saw it clean was..."

"When I moved out of it?" Tai suggested.

"Yeah, that's probably it." They laughed as Tai fished out a pair of plaid pajama pants he thought would fit Sora.

"Here ya go... I usually don't wear a shirt with those pants, but I don't think you'd want to do that too... you can change in the bathroom," he told her.

"Or, you could just leave, and I'll change in here, since this is my room for the night," Sora grinned. Tai stood straight and looked at her.

"Fine. I know when I'm not wanted," he mock pouted as he turned on his heel to exit the room. Sora tried to stifle her laughter. 

"Tai, stop acting like your dad!"

"Well, quit acting like my mom and I'll stop acting like my dad!" Tai tried to yell angrily, but a grin couldn't help but surface. He stuck his head back inside the room and looked at Sora with a sly grin. "Hey Sor, you want me to uh... come back in here when you're done changing?"

"Tai, get OUT so I can change!" Sora laughed. Tai shrugged, shut his bedroom door, and walked back into the living room. Sora quickly threw off her bridesmaid dress and hung it on a hanger she took from Tai's closet, then put on the shirt and pants. She had to roll the pants up at the waist because they were too long on her, and they hung low on her hips because they were too big. She rolled her eyes and smiled as she walked out of the room to join Tai in the living room. He looked up, surprised to see her.

"I thought you were going to bed," he said.

"I decided to watch more TV... I'm not as tired as I thought," she replied. Tai smiled and patted the couch next to him. Tai flipped channels to find something interesting as Sora sat down next to him and scooted close. He put his arm over the back of the couch behind her, allowing her to lean up against him. As he flipped through the endless stream of infomercials and trashy programming, he finally gave up and settled on CNN.

Sora sighed as the images of the world once again played on the TV screen and closed her eyes. Tai looked down at her out of the corner of his eye and saw that she was on the brink of sleep. He smiled fondly at his best friend and turned his attention back to the TV. He soon felt Sora go slightly limp against his form and he realized she had fallen asleep. Turning off the TV, he arose cautiously from the couch, being careful not to wake her. He gently lifted her in his arms, causing her to stir and sigh in her sleep.

"Shh.." he whispered to her. He strangely felt like a father carrying his daughter to bed. She seemed surprisingly light for her age and size. Not that she was large in any way... quite petite, to be exact. He just thought she would be heavier. He managed to get into his room without waking Sora in his arms and turned on the light. He laid her in his bed and covered her up with his old sheets and smiled as she shifted in his bed and held tightly to the covers as a child would to a teddy bear. He took his hand and smoothed Sora's crimson hair out of her face and watched as the corners of her mouth turned slightly upwards.

"Sweet dreams, Sora," he whispered as he leaned down to kiss her forehead. He stood upright, glanced at her once more before turning off the light, and walked back into the living room where sleep found him as well.

************************

"Taichi..."

Tai stirred in his sleep and groaned a bit as he felt himself drift slowly back to reality.

"Taichi..."

"Huh?" he mumbled groggily as he slowly opened his eyes... only to find that this was... NOT... reality. Tai shot up into a sitting position and looked around him. Everything was blurry, and dark, and misty. He rubbed his eyes and blinked them a few times to clear his vision, but when he opened his eyes again, what he saw was the same. He realized he was wearing a white robe of some kind.

"Where am I?"

"Just wait a moment, Taichi, the others will be here soon."

"The others... who are you?" Tai called out into the dark mist. No answer came, so Tai took the opportunity to take in his surroundings. The black mist that somehow was visible swirled on a nonexistent wind, making no rhyme or reason of where he was. "This has GOT to be a dream or something..." Tai told himself. He was scared. This wasn't the Digital World. This wasn't that weird dimension either. This wasn't even the place he and the older Digidestined had been transported to where time went backwards and all of them had reverted to their younger selves. This was someplace... different.

All of a sudden, a flash of light appeared. Tai shielded his eyes from the sudden brightness, and when it faded, Tai looked to where the light had been. His eyes widened... there, in the place of the light, was Sora, sleeping as she had on his bed... even though there was nothing underneath her. She also was wearing a white robe, but hers was a bit different. Tai ran over to her and looked upon her... she seemed like she didn't even realize she wasn't in Tai's bed anymore. "Sora," he whispered, gently shaking her shoulders in an attempt to wake her. She didn't even flinch. "Sora!"

"Sora..."

Tai looked up and around him when he heard the strange voice again. It was mature, yet sounded easy-going... fatherly... even caring in a way... and it was very clear, even though it reverberated all around them. The voice seemed to be coming from all directions, but who in the world was speaking? Sora stirred in her sleep a bit, just as Tai had done when he had first heard the voice.

"Sora..."

"There it is again," Tai whispered. He looked down at Sora to find she was waking up. She opened her eyes and smiled when she saw Tai.

"Hey Kamiya," she yawned. Tai was taken aback. It was like she wasn't even surprised to be here... that, or she wasn't even aware of where she was yet.

"S-Sora?" he stammered.

"Who'd you think it was? Santa Claus?"

"N-no, it's not that... it's just that..." Sora finally took her eyes off of Tai and looked around her. She gasped and shot up into a standing position. 

"Oh my God, where are we!?" she cried. She looked as white as the robe she wore. Tai took hold of her shoulders and forced her to look him in the eye.

"Sora, calm down, this is a dream," he told her, more calmly than he felt.

"B-but, it seems so real... and how are we both carrying on an independent side of this conversation if this is a dream?" she asked him, taking deep breaths to calm herself down.

"I don't know... I have a feeling that voice will answer our questions soon enough," he said, looking around him once again.

"Sora and Taichi..."

"That's the voice," he told Sora, who nodded. "We're here," Tai called out, still holding onto Sora's shoulders. Sora looked around her, wide-eyed and frightened.

"What do you want with us? Is this a dream? Where are we?" Sora shouted into the blackness.

"So many questions, my child. In time, they will be answered. There are still others to come, and they are not yet finished creating the bond between them."

"More people? Who?" Tai questioned. Again, no reply came. Tai sighed in frustration and looked at Sora again. She looked back at him and he cracked a dry grin.

"And just what are you smiling about, Tai?" she asked a bit angrily.

"I was just wondering what you were doing in my dream."

"YOUR dream, this is MY dream, Tai! I should be asking you that!"

"No Sora, I was here first," he pointed out, "so that makes this my dream." Sora shrugged.

"Well, I can't say I'm surprised to see you here, you've been in my dreams before," she told him. "Why are you so surprised to see me here?"

Tai blushed a bit and stuttered as he tried to find something to say. "Uh... er, I mean..."

"Oh come on, Tai, don't tell me I've never been in your dreams."

"Well... y-you have, but never like this... uh, I mean..."

The two were interrupted by another, brighter flash of light in the distance. Sora jumped and stood close to Tai as they looked to the light. When the light disappeared, Tai and Sora saw TK and Kari sleeping within each other's arms. They were wearing the strange white robes as well, TK's the same style as Tai's, and Kari's the same as Sora's. Sora and Tai hurried over to them and Sora tried to wake them up. Tai took hold of Sora's arm, and she looked incredulously at him. "Tai, what are you doing!?"

"Sora, they won't wake up unless that weird voice calls them," he told her. Sora's expression softened and she nodded. She and Tai looked back down at Kari and TK and a twinge of anger arose in the young man. Sora noticed how he was clenching his jaw and blinked.

"Tai, they're married now, they're allowed to sleep like that," she told him, her face void of emotion. Tai just sighed.

"Still..." Sora looked at him a bit longer, but her eyes shot elsewhere when the voice was heard again.

"Takeru... Hikari..."

Just as Tai and Sora had done, TK and Kari stirred in their sleep but did not awaken at the first calling.

"Takeru... Hikari..."

This time, TK and Kari did wake up. "Tai? Sora?" TK asked when he realized the two older adults standing near him and Kari. Kari looked at her brother and Sora in surprise. 

"Yeah, it's us," Tai said, nodding his head. "Don't panic or anything, but this is one freaky dream we're having here..."

TK and Kari looked around them into the blackness and stood as well. "Whoa..." TK breathed, his eyes wide as he surveyed his surroundings. 

"What... is going on here?" Kari asked, her voice stained with fear. TK took hold of Kari's hand and pulled her towards him. Sora and Tai edged closer to the two younger adults and together the four looked into the vast mist.

"And now, the four are together."

"What do you want?" Tai shouted into the darkness. Sora was pressing herself against Tai in fear, and he reached around and put an arm around her for security. Suddenly, he heard a soft song begin to play. It was quiet... mysterious.... it sent an unknown, almost peaceful emotion through him that he knew he had felt before, but he just couldn't place it. Only four simple notes were played in such a way that the four imagined an eagle flying over a vast desert land, gracefully dodging mesas and mountain ranges as it glided majestically above the earth. He strained his ears to hear, and Sora, TK, and his little sister seemed to be doing the same.

"Do you guys hear that?" Kari whispered, trying to catch every note of the song.

"Yeah... what is it?" TK asked.

"It sounds like... a piano..." Sora said quietly, looking around. None of the four were afraid anymore, as their curiosity was overwhelming them. They began to wonder why they were here... why they were all sharing this strange dream... and what it meant. A faint light began to shine all around them, like the time just before dawn. The mist that had been swirling with no direction began to twirl in motion with the music. A soft breeze picked up and blew around Tai, Sora, TK, and Kari. The music grew louder and consumed each of their minds and bodies... it made them feel like they were flying.

"I will take your weak, mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like my own, using that same mighty power I will use to conquer everything, everywhere."

He's not making any sense... Tai thought to himself. He found it strange that although he felt the song running through him and the wind lifting him that he was still able to think clearly about what the voice was saying. "Who are you?" Sora asked once more.

" 'I am the Alpha and the Omega - the beginning and the end,' says the Lord God. 'I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come, the Almighty One.' "

Tai and the others looked at each other in disbelief. Is this God? But it can't be... at least not God the Father... he's reciting scripture from Revelation... unless... "Are you Jesus?" Tai shouted loudly. The voice didn't answer the question, but instead, said something else.

"I will give you a new heart with new and right desires, and I will put a new spirit in you."

"TK, that's in Ezekiel, isn't it?" Kari asked. TK nodded, but suddenly, his eyes shot forward and his head flew back. Tai, Sora, and Kari did the same, as if they had no control over what was happening. And in all truth, they didn't. The mist flew through them as the song grew louder and louder, and they each felt as if part of them was leaving and another, new part was taking its place.

"What's happening!?" TK shouted over the music.

"Just let it happen! There's got to be a reason for this!" Tai yelled. The music swirled, as did the mist, faster and more furious. The four Digidestined floated high in the air, the mist flying around them. The once dark mist gathered into four silver, cloud-like groups. Tai and the others look incredulously at them, waiting for something to happen, until suddenly the clouds burst forward at the speed of a bullet and went through each of their chests. Tai, Sora, TK, and Kari's eyes widened as much as they could... it was like each of them had a really intense case of heartburn. Surprisingly though, it didn't hurt them. They just... sensed it. In dreams, pain is realized, but never felt... that's what this was like. The mist continued to fly through each of their chests as the music became faster and faster.... 

Until suddenly... it stopped.

"It is finished," the voice said, and then faded away.

****************************

"Tai, get up!" Mrs. Kamiya shouted from the kitchen. "It's time for breakfast!" Tai rolled over in his sleep, but unfortunately he didn't have a large enough space in which to make the complete turn. With a loud thud, Tai hit the floor.

"Ow!!!" he cried out as his fall jerked him out of his sleep. He stood up slowly and rubbed the first thing that had hit the floor. "That's gonna be sore later..." He dragged himself into the kitchen and opened his eyes to his mother's warm smile.

" 'Bout time, sleepyhead," she smiled.

"Morning, Mom," Tai yawned. He pulled out a chair and lowered himself into it.

"Oh, Tai honey, could you go wake Sora up? She needs to eat to," Mrs. Kamiya added just before Tai's rear had hit the chair. Tai froze in place, looked at his mother, and then grudgingly got up. He walked to his door and knocked on it. Hearing nothing behind the door, he opened it cautiously.

"Sora? You in here?" he called into the room. He opened the door all the way and saw Sora still asleep in his bed. Tai smiled and walked to her bedside. He gently shook her shoulders to wake her. "Sora," he said quietly. Sora stirred in her sleep and slowly opened her eyes.

"Hey Kamiya," she smiled, yawning and stretching her arms above her head. Tai's eyes widened as the feeling of dèjá vu came over him. 

"W... what did you say?" he asked quietly.

"I said, hey Kamiya," Sora repeated. She looked at Tai strangely and then the dèjá vu hit her too. "Uh..."

"Sora... did you-"

"Kids! Get in here for breakfast!" Tai's mother called from the kitchen. Tai and Sora smiled nervously at each other and he helped her into the kitchen. They sat down next to each other at the table as Mr. Kamiya placed two plates of eggs, bacon, and toast and glasses of orange juice in front of them.

"Mmm, that looks good, Mom!" Tai smiled, patting his stomach. "It's not like your regular cooking, is it?" Mrs. Kamiya threw a potholder at her son and laughed.

"Do you want to eat or not?" she asked indignantly. Tai laughed and threw the deformed oven mitt back at his mother.

"Okay, okay Mom, I was just kidding!" He and Sora, along with Tai's parents, said a blessing over the food and then began to eat. Mr. and Mrs. Kamiya chatted away happily while Tai and Sora ate in silence, stealing glances at each other out of the corner of their eyes. After they were finished eating, the two asked if they could be excused, and they went into Tai's room together.

"Sora," he said quietly after the door had been shut, "did you have a weird dream last night?"

"If you're talking about the one with you, me, TK, Kari, the weird disembodied voice, the mist, the darkness, and the song in it, yes, I did," Sora replied just as quietly, her eyes wide with curiosity. Tai looked at her, silent for more than a few moments.

"B-but..." Tai stammered, aimlessly pointing between himself and Sora, as if he couldn't decide who he was talking about. He finally settled on himself and all but slammed a hole in his chest with his open palm. "Sora, you couldn't have had that dream... that dream was mine."

Sora shook her head slowly, never once taking her eyes off of Tai's slightly horrified expression. "No Tai... that was my dream."

"NO, it was MY dream!!" Tai insisted angrily.

Sora stared angrily at him and raised her hands. "I'm TELLING you, Tai, I had the dream too!" Tai raised an eyebrow and a smirk crept onto his face.

"Okay Sora," he spat, "if you had the dream, then what was the first thing the voice said?"

"Sora," she said, nearly cutting him off. Tai grinned widely at her.

"HAH! That's not it! The first thing it said was Taichi!"

"The first thing it said to me was my name and you know it, Tai," Sora growled. Tai stopped grinning and the scowl returned to his face. 

"Well, o-okay then, what did the song sound like?" He crossed his arms, confident he had her this time. Sora rolled her eyes angrily and began to hum every note they had heard in the dream, correctly and on pitch. The confident look on Tai's face melted away immediately, Sora glaring at him all the while.

He shook his head furiously and his anger grew to cover his fear. Gesturing wildly, he really started shouting at her. "NO Sora, it was MY dream! You don't understand! People just can't freaking share dreams like that! THEY CAN'T!!! It's just not poss..." Tai stopped in mid-sentence when he focused on the confused, frightened, hurt expression Sora was casting him. He sighed, dropped his arms to his sides, and looked to the floor. She stared at him, the hurt gone, but the confusion and wonder growing faster and faster with each passing silent moment.

"I think we need to get a hold of TK and Kari," he mumbled finally, heading for the phone in his room.

*******************

Tai picked up his Bible from the top of his desk and handed it to Kari, who was sitting on his bed next to TK. After he had called them and told them about the dream, they immediately left the honeymoon resort (with TK promising a second honeymoon as soon as possible) and drove straight back to the Kamiyas' apartment. TK had told Tai that they already knew he and Kari had shared the dream, since he heard Kari humming the song in the bathroom that morning. The four had written down the things they had heard the strange voice say in the dream and were in the process of looking them up in the Bible.

"Here's one, right here... the one about the Alpha and Omega," Kari said, pointing to a page in Tai's Bible. "It's Revelation 1:8."

"Well yeah, I knew that one," Tai said impatiently as he unconsciously turned on the radio in his room, "what about the one about making our weak bodies strong?"

"I remember seeing that somewhere in my Bible," TK said, "but I don't remember where it is. I'll look for it later."

"The 'It is finished' was said by Jesus right before he died on the cross," Kari announced, her nose still buried in the Bible. 

A moment of silence went by when the radio was all that was heard. A commercial came on with a man advertising some kind of new computer program, and his voice sounded a lot like that of the darkness that Tai and the others had heard in the dream. "Dèjá vu..." they all muttered simultaneously, then stared around at each other, still not seeming to be fully convinced that the dream-sharing thing had actually happened.

"Uh, that one about giving us new spirits..." Sora began in an attempt to break the uneasy silence, "in the dream, Kari, you said that was in Ezekiel."

"Yeah," Kari mumbled in mild shock, flipping through the Bible, and then stopping on a page, "right here - Ezekiel 36:26... but there's a bit more to it. 'I will take out your stony heart of sin and give you a new, obedient heart.' "

"So was that what happened to us when that mist went through us?" TK asked.

"I don't know..." Tai said quietly, deep in thought. "I know that when it went through me, I felt way different."

"Me too," Sora agreed. "But I have another question."

"What?"

"He said, when we had all gotten into the dream, 'The four are together'. Where in the Bible does is say anything about the four?" No one said a word, just looked around at each other. Tai finally broke the silence.

"TK, did you manage to get a hold of everybody else so we can talk about this?" he asked.

TK shook his head. "Matt had busy signal, but everybody else I got a hold of."

"Well, are they coming?" Tai asked impatiently.

Again, TK shook his head 'no'. "They all said something had come up." He paused to think a moment, and then started relaying all the excuses to Tai. "Joe had an emergency come up with Mimi, Maika had a check-up and Davis wanted to go, Yolei and Ken made plans to take their kids to the park or something, Izzy had to wor-"

"Okay, okay, I got it!" Tai interrupted, exasperated. He crossed his arms over his chest and lowered his gaze.

"Weird... whenever we've had something come up before, they always dropped everything and rushed right over... hm."

"Well, we're all here," Sora said, "and we're the ones who had the dream. We have to assume that none of the others had the dream because they weren't in it." The others nodded while Tai went over to the phone.

"TK, is your brother at his apartment?" Tai asked.

"Should be," TK answered, and immediately Tai dialed the number.

"Hello, is Matt there?.... Hey Matt, this is Tai..... yeah, I'm good. Hey, do you think you could get over to my parents' apartment as soon as possible? There's something weird going on and..... huh? What do you mea..... But Matt, it's Saturday, and it's a holiday weekend, you don't............ *sigh* Alright, sure. Thanks anyway, Matt........... Yeah, later." Tai hung up the phone, looking considerably more disheartened than he was before he spoke with his long-time friend.

"What's the matter, Tai?" Sora asked.

"Matt says he has to go to the University to check up on something for his Aerospace Science class and he can't come."

"But the University's closed because of the holiday, and the weekend!" Kari exclaimed. Tai nodded, his brow furrowed.

"Yeah, I know. Apparently he has some way in, though. He did say that he would get the rest of the group together later and talk about it." The group remained silent, their gazes fixed to the floor.

"Well, let's try and find that other verse so we can figure this dream out," Sora finally said, pasting on a smile. The others nodded, and together, the four searched through the Bible for some meaning of their strange dream. The thoughts that went through Tai's mind troubled him...

Why didn't the others come? Who was that speaking in the dream? And... why is this happening... now?

*****************************

"He will take your weak, mortal bodies and change them  
into glorious bodies like His own, using that same mighty   
power He will use to conquer everything, everywhere."  
~ Philipians 3:21

******************************************************************************************************************************************************************

A/N: *sighs in relief* Whoo! Chapter one is FINALLY finished! I'd lean back and relax, but... 1)Dad would yell at me for leaning in the chair, AGAIN, 2) the chair is kinda BROKEN and it'd probably fall apart if I did that, and 3) I still have a heck of a lot more chapters to write! ^^;;; Well, I'd better get started then... hope you all liked this, maybe even a lot... heh, but maybe that's hoping for too much. ^_~ Now that you've read, could you PLEEEASE review? PLEASE!? J/k, but really, please review. The "not saying anything if you figured it out in the review" thing still stands. ^^ I want to know what you think so far! Thanks!

Kari :)


	3. The Evil Attacks

Spirit Sojourn

by Kari

A/N: Yay! Finally, chapter two! Chapter one took me forever to write... but it's ALL downhill from here, buddy! YES! *dances around the room* ^_^ Whoo... maybe I should quit that. ;; Oh, and to new readers, if there ARE any... if you haven't read chapter one or the prologue yet, prepare to be THOROUGHLY confused. ^^ So you might want to stop by there first.

Disclaimer: Duh. You all know this one. *looks pointedly at readers*

Dedications: Well, they're pretty much all the same. You know, to my editor, my friends, my family, God... ^_^ If they change, you guys will be the first to hear about it, kay? Also, goodbye and God bless to the Trinity Baptist Church student minister, Brent Warren... he felt a call from God to join another church near Dallas and become their youth minister. We love you, Brent, and we'll miss you! None of us at TBC will ever forget you, and the entire youth group can't thank you enough for all that you've done for us for the past three years as our student minister. Come back to visit us soon!

And one final thing before the chapter begins... MERRY CHRISTMAS!! And a happy new year and all that, too. ^_^ If you don't celebrate Christmas (wish everybody did...), then I still hope your holidays are "merry and bright". (I love Christmas songs...) ^^ Okay, enough talk! Read, read! ^_^

Kari :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spirit Sojourn  
Chapter 2: The Evil Attacks  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and in His good time He will honor you." ~ 1 Peter 5:6

**************************

~*~ Two months later ~*~

Hikari Takaishi awoke one morning with an overwhelming nausea settled inside her. She glanced at the clock... it was glowing 3:30 AM. With a tired, aggravated groan, Kari climbed out of bed, careful not to wake her husband. She stood slowly to prevent getting dizzy, but she did anyway and held her forehead until the room stopped spinning. When she finally felt like she could make it to the bathroom without running into a wall, she dragged herself straight to the toilet.

Kari slumped to her knees and leaned over the bowl, feeling her stomach start to tense...

"Kari, honey?" TK awoke to the sound of his wife emptying her insides in the bathroom. "You okay?"

In the bathroom, Kari scolded herself for waking him up. "Yeah TK, go back to sl-" She couldn't finish her sentence because at that moment her stomach decided it wasn't finished getting rid of that night's dinner. TK winced at the sound and got out of bed to see if she was alright. He stuck his head in the bathroom to see his wife buckled over the toilet, trembling all over.

"Kari!" The young man rushed to her side and took hold of her shoulders. "Kari, what's the matter?" 

"I think it was dinner from last night that made me sick. It didn't really taste right anyway..." she groaned weakly, clutching her stomach. TK held to her tightly to stop her from shaking. "TK, would you get me some watever, sweetie?"

"Sure," he said, getting up immediately and filling a small cup with water from the jug they kept on a small table against the wall. He handed it to her, but she was shaking so bad she couldn't hold it without spilling it all in the toilet. He held it up to her lips and let her sip from it. "You okay now?" he asked her when she had finished drinking.

Slowly, she nodded. He stood and helped her up, carefully so as not to upset her stomach again. When she was upright she swayed a bit, dizzy from throwing up, and didn't move. She didn't even feel strong enough to stand, really. TK scooped up the frail-looking woman off her feel and carried her to their bed, gently setting her in it. "Think you can sleep?" he whispered to her as he knelt by her bedside. Kari, curled up on her side facing him and clutching her pillow, nodded. "That's my girl..." he smiled. He knelt beside her, playing with her hair until he was sure she was asleep. "I'll take her to the hospital tomorrow..." he mumbled to himself as he got in bed next to Kari, and sleep soon overtook him.

**************************

"Mmmmmmm..." Sora hummed as she worked in her mother's flowershop. She had another job at the college, but she still came here and helped her mother out every so often, just for the fun of it. She was bent over a planter filled with various types of carnations, lilies, and tulips, making sure each type was separated so they wouldn't overpower each other.

Sora heard someone enter the shop and looked away from the flowers to greet the customer. "Good morni... Tai!" She smiled brightly when she saw that her visitor was her best friend. He flashed her that old lopsided grin of his and went to her side. "What are you doing here?" she asked him as he gave her a quick hug.

"Just coming to hang out with my best bud," he grinned. "Whatcha doing?"

"Making sure these flowers don't kill each other, that's all," Sora explained. Tai laughed and knelt next to her as she skillfully tended to the flower bed. An eyebrow raised, his eyes followed her fingers' fluid movements, watching like a hawk as she separated each flower species from the other. He was dumbfounded as to why anyone could or would want to do this job.

"How do you do that?" he asked, his dislike of the idea of messing with flowers all day dripping from his voice. She laughed a bit, shrugged, and continued with her job while he just sat and watched.

"Where's your mom today, Sora?" Tai continued with his questioning.

"She wasn't feeling too well today... she hasn't been getting a lot of sleep lately," she replied, not once looking up from her task.

"That's too bad..." Tai said sympathetically, clicking his tongue. "Does she have a cold or something?"

"I think it's just a twelve-hour bug," she answered.

"Oh... so you just came to work for her?"

"Yeah..."

"That was nice of you."

"I guess..."

For the first time in a long time, an awkward silence fell upon the two. Neither knew just why... the last time something like this had happened was when the two had dated for awhile in high school. They found they liked being best friends better so continued on that way and broke off the more 'serious' relationship.

In the silence, a song popped into Sora's head and she started humming while she worked. With sudden realization, Tai's eyes widened and he wheeled his head to the side to face her. She noticed his stare out of the corner of her eye, stopped humming, and met his gaze.

"What?"

"That song... that's the one we heard in the dream!" he exclaimed. Sora nodded slowly, never wavering from her work.

"Yeah, I know... it's been running through my mind a lot lately," she told him quietly. Tai placed a hand on her shoulder, and Sora turned to look at him.

"Did you have another dream or something?"

Sora shook her head. "No, I haven't," she said solemnly, "have you?" He shook his head 'no' as well.

"But I have been feeling something's going to happen soon," he added. Sora nodded in agreement. "And I really wish the guys would return my calls or something. Every time I call one of them, they're either not home, or they're like Matt and make up some stupid excuse for not being able to come over or talk at that moment."

"It's strange," Sora said quietly. "Ever since the wedding, everybody seems to be avoiding us."

"I know. It's starting to make me wonder if we did something wrong... or maybe it was the dream or something. I have no idea what's making everybody act this way."

Sora didn't know what to say at this point, so looked away and remained silent for a moment before continuing to hum and separate the flowers. Tai also said nothing and went back to watching her. Running through each mind were possible reasons for the strange behavior of their long-time friends, yet none of the explanations they could come up with seemed plausible. Things were getting strange in the world lately... things and people were turning upside-down. It was almost as if nothing were impossible anymore...

*****************************

Kari sat in the waiting room, clutching TK's hand. She had just been in the doctor's office for twenty minutes, only to be sent out again to wait for test results.

"Now Mrs. Takaishi, I want you to take this cup and bring it back when you're finished. Try not to overfill it," the doctor instructed. Kari looked blankly at the cup and then at the doctor with a very abashed grin.

"Well, I'm pretty sure I'm not gonna overfill it... but why? Is that how you check for viruses and stuff?"

"One of the ways... we can also take blood, but this will give us a bit more information," she told her patient.

"Kar? What's wrong?" TK asked when he felt her hand squeeze his just a tiny bit harder. She neglected to look at him, but assured him nothing was wrong.

She brought the cup and its contents back out and handed it bashfully to the doctor. "That's good, Mrs. Takaishi. Now if you'll just take a seat on the table while I run a quick diagnostic on a sample." Kari blinked a few times and swung her legs over the side of the table as she watched the doctore take a small, rectangular piece of paper out of a cabinet on the wall and squeeze a few drops of the contents of the cup onto it. "Now we wait about a minute and a half..." the woman told her as she sat in a small swivel chair. Kari looked at her hands and around the room to pass the time while the doctor entered some information into her computer.

"Doctor? Do you have any idea what's wrong with me?" she asked suddenly, about a minute later.

"Well, I do have an idea, but your symptoms could point at three or four different things. I don't want to say what until this test is finished, and then I'll have a better idea." Kari nodded and continued concentrating on her hands. Thirty seconds (that felt like thirty minutes) later, the doctor stood from her chair and examined the piece of paper. Her expression turned serious as she held it up to the light.

"What? What's wrong?" Kari pressed, wringing her hands.

"Ah, okay... that's what I thought."

TK watched as his wife looked between the clock and the floor repeatedly. "Kari honey, you're starting to worry me..." he said quietly after five minutes of this incessant clock-checking. She jumped a bit, seemingly having forgotten her husband was sitting there.

"Oh... sorry," she laughed nervously, "I guess I'm just... a little scared."

"Why? Did the doctor tell you what was wrong?"

"What is it!?" she asked again. The doctor turned back to her and smiled weakly.

"I'm almost positive what the problem with you is now, but I'm going to send it up to a friend of mine in gynecology to make sure."

"Gynecol..." Kari repeated, fading off before she finished. The doctor laughed a bit and comfortingly patted her back before she left to take the sample to another doctor.

"Don't worry, Mrs. Takaishi, I'm sure everything will be fine."

"She didn't exactly tell me," Kari told him, her hand tightening on his again, "but she gave me a pretty good idea."

"Well, what is it?" he pressed. She opened her mouth to answer, but was interrupted by a male nurse coming up to her and TK.

"Mr. and Mrs. Takaishi?" he asked. Kari looked up in dread while TK affirmed their identity. The nurse smiled brightly and handed them a couple papers attached to a few small brochures. "Congratulations! Your tests came back positive, Mrs. Takaishi! We'll be seeing you again soon!" And with that, the nurse hurried off, TK looking after him blankly while Kari hung her head.

"Oh boy..." she muttered, holding her head in her hands. TK looked over at her, obviously confused, and then held up the papers he had been handed. The first two papers showed a series of dates for return check-ups with a different doctor than Kari had just seen. He read over them and noticed that the appointments spanned over about six months.

"Huh?" he mumbled under his breath. "Why six months?" He then took out one of the brochures and all but passed out at its title...

"So You're Going To Be A Daddy..."

**************************

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!!

"Tai, could you get the phone?" Mrs. Kamiya shouted from the kitchen. No answer. "Tai! Phone!!" she yelled again. Still no response. With a frustrated sigh, she put down the knife she was using to cut the peppers for dinner that night and rushed to the phone. She snatched it up just before the fourth ring. "Hello?" she said, her tone rushed.

"Mom? That you?"

"Kari? Yes, it's me! Are you at home, hun?"

"We're at home, Mom..."

"That's nice, sweetie. How are you and TK doing?"

There was no answer on the other end of the phone... just nervous breathing. "Kari? You there?"

"Yeah Mom, I'm here..."

"Well... not that I don't love it when you call, but what's the reason, dear? You don't always call just to listen to silence on the phone," Mrs. Kamiya chuckled. My, she's acting strangely today... she thought as she waited for a response. Again, no answer. "Kari-"

"Uh, she told me to tell you, Mrs. Kamiya," TK's voice said. Mrs. Kamiya raised an eyebrow and cradled the phone closer to her ear.

"Oh, hello TK... tell me what?" she asked cheerfully.

"Uh... that is..." Mrs. Kamiya listened with a highly amused grin on her face as TK tried to find the words to say. They're BOTH acting weird today! I wonder what's going on...

"Just say it, TK," she finally told him in a rush of breath.

"Kari's pregnant," he shouted into the phone, almost cutting her off.

"................"

"She went to the doctor today and they told us we were having a baby," he croaked, expecting Mrs. Kamiya to lash out on him. He waited, cringing, for a few minutes, listening to... well, listening to silence on the other end. "Um... Mrs. Kamiya?" He was answered by a loud thud... Mrs. Kamiya had fainted.

"Kari, your mom just passed out," TK stated stupidly, looking blankly at the phone. Kari just shook her head, still not really believing this all was happening.

"Just wait, Tai'll pick up the pohne in a second..." she said quietly. Sure enough, TK soon heard a male voice shouting into the phone.

"Who is this? Hello? Hey!!"

"Tai?" TK said hesitantly.

"TK? That you?"

"Yeah Tai, it's me..."

"Why is my mom out cold on the floor!?" Tai yelled into the receiver. TK jerked the phone away from his ear until his brother-in-law had finished shouting.

"Promise not to kill me?"

"Kill you, why would I kill you? You didn't do anything to Kari, did you?!" TK shut his eyes and clutched the phone in his hand.

"Well, I... I guess you could kind of say I d-"

"TK, WHAT THE HECK DID YOU DO TO MY SISTER?!?"

"Um..." TK paused when his voice cracked and cleared his throat, and continued, hoping Tai wouldn't go insane. "Kari's pregnant, Tai."

"What? I couldn't hear you, you were mumbli-"

"Kari's going to have a baby," TK said, loudly this time.

"....................." Again, silence ensued. TK covered the mouthpiece with his hand and looked over to Kari.

"Do they always have to go mute whenever they hear something like this?!" he grumbled. Kari shrugged, not having known what her family's reaction would've been in the first place. TK leaned against the wall with the phone to his ear and waited for Tai to come out of his temporary state of shock. "You there, T-"

"M... my little sister's... pregnant?" he finally sputtered. TK nodded.

"Yes Tai, Kari's pregnant." Surprisingly to him, he was getting used to this being-a-dad thing. It was getting easier to say every time he had to drill it into someone's head. Kari looked to him, her expression asking what was going on. He opened his mouth to answer, but jumped a bit when he heard the phone slam down. "Uh..." Slowly, he brought the phone away from his ear and looked at it blankly.

"What happened?" Kari questioned.

"He, uh... hung up on me," TK replied blandly. He set the phone gently on its base and went to sit on the khaki-colored couch in their living room. Kari stood up suddenly when he had sat down and headed into the kitchen. "Kar, where're you going?"

"He'll want something to eat when he gets here... I imagine my mom hasn't even finished dinner yet," she replied, shaking her head.

****************************

Five minutes later, loud pounding startled TK and Kari from their thoughts. They were seated together on their couch, staring straight ahead, thinking of what they were going to do, now being future parents. TK jumped up from his seat and hurried to answer the door. "Who is i-" he began as he opened the door, and Tai burst through it the second he had room.

"Where is she!!" he shouted, he head wheeling around looking for his little sister. He finally spotted her sitting on the couch and rushed over to her.

"She's right-" TK said automatically, pointing lamely in her direction. He watched as Tai ran over to his sister and scooped her off the couch. "-There."

"Kari!! I'm going to be an uncle!?" he exclaimed as he spun her around and around. Kari's horrified look melted as she began to laugh at her brother's enthusiasm.

"Yes Tai, you're going to be an uncle," she giggled, holding tightly to Tai's shoulders so she wouldn't fall. He laughed heartily and spun her around until he stopped suddenly, held her in the air a moment, and then gently, cautiously, set her down.

"Oh... I guess I shouldn't do that... I might, ya know, hurt something," he mumbled, his expression turning both serious and concerned at once. "I didn't, did I?"

Kari grinned at her brother and set a hand on her still tiny abdomen. "Don't think so, although I was starting to get a little queasy from the room spinning," she told him. Tai's eyes widened as he flopped down on the couch. TK finally walked over and wrapped his arms around Kari's shoulders as Tai made himself at home.

"I'm going to be an uncle..." he breathed, as if trying to convince himself that it was true. "I'm gonna be an uncle...!" He remained quiet this time and Kari took the opportunity to get the sandwich she had made for her brother before he had arrived and bring it to him. Thanking her and telling her she shouldn't have done it in her "condition", he accepted it and took a huge bite.

"Oh Kari, did they tell you how far along you were?" TK asked as he and Kari watched Tai munch on his pre-dinner snack. Kari shrugged.

"No, but I'd assume it's about a month and a half," she answered nonchalantly. TK again wrapped his arms around her shoulders and rested his chin next to hers. Tai continued eating, looking up at Kari and TK out of the corner of his eye every two seconds. 

"Hey Kari, have you thought up any names yet?" he asked after he had finished. Kari looked blankly at him.

"Names? Goodness no... I mean, we just found out today, Tai."

Tai waved his hand dismissively. "No no no, Kari, you have to decide on a name early on! Then you won't be stuck in the delivery room with no name to put on the little guy's birth certificate.

"Since when did you become an expert on babies, Tai?" Kari teased.

"Since I found out my sister was having one," Tai shot back with a mouthful of turkey sandwich.

"Wait... wait a minute, Tai... little guy??" TK asked, an eyebrow raised. Tai nodded affirmatively.

"Yes, little guy."

"But Tai, it's too early on for even the doctors to tell what the baby will be," Kari laughed. "Besides... I'm not so sure I want to know what it is beforehand. Then what will the surprise be?"

"What he LOOKS like!" her brother insisted, reaching for the phone. TK looked strangely at him, his look questioning what his brother-in-law was doing. Tai noticed him and quickly explained, "I'm calling mom to see if she's awake yet. I put her on the couch, but I left right after that." Kari shook her head and TK chuckled a bit as he hurriedly dialed his home number. "Mom? You okay?........... Good. Oh, guess what? Kari's pregnant!..................... Mom?.......................... Mom, you there?"

***************************

After he bade his sister and brother-in-law goodbye and congratulations, Tai rushed home to see his mother. This was the second time she'd fainted in one day, not to mention in less than thirty minutes... he supposed that she just couldn't grasp that she was about to become a grandmother. Perhaps she felt she was too young to become one of the eldest Kamiya generation of three living. And in all honesty, perhaps she was too young... nevertheless, Kari was pregnant, and going to become a mother in just a short time... Tai hoped his mother would get over the fainting thing real quick.

Soon after leaving his little sister's apartment, Tai burst through the old front door to his parents' apartment. He wasn't surprised to find it unlocked, since, due to the low crime rate in Tokyo (and all of Japan, for that matter), his family never really felt the need to lock it unless they were leaving for an extended period of time. What he was surprised to see, however, was a tuft of red-orange hair sticking out from around the corner leading into the kitchen.

"Uh, mom? Do we have visitors?" he asked before rounding the corner to discover the owner of the hair. Just as he was about to poke his head into the kitchen, Sora's face popped into view. Startled, Tai jumped back a bit. When Sora had decided to face him, he had been so close his lips had almost brushed hers. She apparently realized this as her cheeks were tinted pink and she suddenly found the floor rather interesting.

"S-Sora!" he stammered, trying to recover from his near incident with his best friend. He shook his head with a small, quick jerk to clear his mind and finally smiled a greeting at her. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I actually came to tell you something," she explained, "and when I knocked on the door, no one answered. I knew you were home, so I walked in... and found your mother sitting on the floor smiling like there was no tomorrow." Tai grinned and then finally joined the two women in the kitchen. There he found his mother already busy with the rest of dinner, almost completely prepared.

"Hey Mom," he said to her. Mrs. Kamiya turned around with a smile, only to quickly turn back around to finish the last few preparations for the meal. "You're not gonna pass out again when I tell Sora the news, are you?" he asked hesitantly. There was no response from his mother for a moment (even though Sora looked utterly confused) until finally she gave a small nod of assurance.

"What news?" Sora questioned. Tai turned to face her, trying to keep the stupid grin off of his face (in vain).

"Kari's pregnant!" he exclaimed happily.

"..........!!" Sora said nothing... only stood before him with a look or pure shock on her pretty face. "WHAT!?" she finally managed.

"Kari and TK are having a baby! I'm gonna be an uncle!" Tai repeated, almost jumping with joy. In his excitement, he had taken Sora's hands in his, as if he were trying to transfer some of his happiness to her. She noticed the gesture, but was too shocked to register any emotion from it. Slowly, a small smile crept onto her face... which grew to a grin... which grew to one of the brightest smiles the young man had ever seen.

"You're kidding!!!" she exclaimed in a hushed voice. Tai only shook his head quickly, so happy he was unable to reply. "That's great, Tai!" Happily she threw her arms around his neck and he around her waist, picking her up and spinning her just as he had Kari earlier. Mrs. Kamiya watched out of the corner of her eye, a sly grin on her face.

"How far along is she?" Sora asked when Tai had released her. He shrugged his reply. 

"Kari says it can't be more than a month and a half."

"Are they going to find out the gender of the baby?" Sora continued questioning. He again shrugged, this time saying nothing in reply.

"Can we go over there?" she asked once again.

"After dinner, yes," Tai answered with a quick glance to his mother, "we'll head over there. Are you staying or what?" Sora looked to Mrs. Kamiya, who immediately turned and nodded.

"Of course she's staying, Tai!" his mother piped, motioning for the two to help her set the table. "We have plenty of food! Unless, of course, you eat it all..."

****************************

I have stood watch over this child since he was conceived... along with my twin brother. He is more powerful than I... he wants so much to be rid of the child, but seems not able to do it right now. If I am to stop the birth now, there will be no chance of him escaping my clutches. Yes... no... now is the time I will attack, and kill the child, and his mother. The Holy One and His Son will never be able to stop me if I am to attack now. My opportunity approaches soon... very soon...

***************************

Hikari... Takaishi...the young woman thought to herself as she filled out the small form. Her husband sat beside her, casting several glances from the paper to her hand, to her stomach, to her face, and then back to the paper.

"Kari, how did they talk us into starting this again?" he asked her, leaning back in his chair. The young woman didn't look up as she was filling out the paper given to her, but laughed.

"Who knows... Sora and my brother are very persistent, I suppose."

Takeru tilted his head back and closed his eyes, groaning with impatience. Finding that somewhat uncomfortable, he rolled his head to the side and plopped it on his wife's shoulder and rubbed his forehead back and forth on it.

"TK, stop it," she giggled, shrugging her shoulder underneath his head. Her actions only caused him to shake his head more quickly on her shoulder. Laughing, she reached up and gently pushed his head off of her and continued filling out the form. TK watched her for a moment, then with a girn, promptly dropped his head on her shoulder again. Kari sighed, rolling her eyes, and finished the horrendous task of signing into the clinic.

"I don't know why they make you fill those out more than once a week. We were only here, what, yesterday?" TK commented, not bothering to hide his frustration as he and Kari brought the form to the woman at the front desk. The young-looking technician glanced up at them with a sympathetic smile as she took the clipboard from Kari.

"It's standard procedure," she told him, "everybody has to do it. I do agree with you though... things would go so much faster if we could keep these and only make people change them every week or month or so." TK looked to her, a bit surprised that she had decided to comment on what he had said. He blushed a little and muttered a quiet "sorry" as the tech filed the papers. "The doctor will be with you shortly," she told the two with a polite smile. Kari thanked the woman and dragged the still bashful TK back to their seats. Together they sat and waited only minutes for the doctor to call Kari in, TK berating himself the whole time for letting himself be heard. Kari tried telling him that it was okay, but he wouldn't have it. He hated being rude.

"Hikari Takaishi?" a woman in a white lab coat called into the waiting room, balancing a clipboard on her left arm. Her dark hair was pulled up into a tight bun, and from the looks of the slight wrinkles around her eyes, she seemed to be in her late thirties to early forties. Kari looked away from TK to acknowledge the woman and stood, pulling her embarrassed husband up with her.

"Hellow Hikari, I'm Doctor Shinyu," the woman greeted warmly, shaking both Kari and TK's hands in turn. "Follow me please, and we'll get this ultrasound done quickly, okay?" Kari nodded and, holding tightly to TK's hand, followed in the doctor's footsteps. In a minute or so, the three walked into a dimly lit room. With its head against the wall, a hospital bed stood next to some kind of machine that looked like a cross between a heart monito and a TV.

"Now Hikari, if you would lay on this table flat on your back and lift up your shirt to expose your stomach," Dr. Shinyu instructed. The young couple said nothing in reply to her commands, and simply followed instructions. The middle-aged woman picked up a transducer, a little handheld device with a large ball roller much like that of a computer mouse at the tip. The ball itself acted like a miniature live-action x-ray machine and was able to project an image of the inside of Kari's abdomen onto the monitor. With quick, fluid motions, Dr. Shinyu applied a medicinal gel to the ball on the transducer.

"Hikari, I'm going to need you to unbutton and unzip your jeans so I can view the entire area over your uterus," the doctor kindly told her. She did as told, and as soon as the transducer was lowered onto her stomach, she gasped. "Cold?" Dr. Shinyu asked, grinning.

"Yeah," Kari admitted with a laugh. 

"That's what everyone says... the gel's always freezing from being kept in these cold hospital rooms," the older woman told the younger, beginning to maneuver the transducer all around Kari's torso, searching for the tiny sign of life embedded within her young patient. She casually explained what she was doing and pointed out things the girl and her husband might be interested in as she looked. "That's the stomach there," she pointed on the monitor as she passed things by with the transducer, "and your liver... pancreas... no appendix, huh? You must've had that removed when you were younger."

"When she was fourteen," TK told the doctor, who smiled warmly at her patient's husband.

"Have you really known each other for six years?"

"Twelve, actually... since we were eight," TK corrected with a distant smile.

"Wow... guess it was meant to be, huh?" TK blushed and nodded his agreement, smiling down on his wife, whose eyes were fixed to the ultrasound screen. She seemed oblivious to the entire conversation, when in reality, she was simply being lulled to sleep by the gentle whirring from inside her that the machine was emitting. She tried to stay awake, but sleep suddenly sounded so inviting... like some higher power was willing... no, ordering her to fall asleep. She vaguely heard the doctor commenting on how the baby wouldn't be very developed or visible at just eight weeks, and how she and TK would be able to see and hear a tiny heartbeat inside a fetus about two and a half centimeters in length, but that was it.

"Kari... are you okay, sweetie?" TK asked out of the blue. Kari looked up at him to answer, and strangely was hardly able to turn her head to see him. When she managed to face him, all she saw were blurs of color. She could see where his hair and eyes were, but those were the only characteristics she could identify. She squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again, blinking quickly to try and clear her vision.

"Yeah TK, I'm... fine..." she replied, her voice almost too quiet to hear. She fought to keep her eyes open, but they still remained only halfway so, no matter how hard she tried. What is WRONG with me? she thought frantically. Funny... her mind seemed to be in perfect working order, yet her body felt like it hadn't had sleep in days.

"Sometimes new mothers act this way, when they see their child for the first time. It's like they're in awe," Kari heard Dr. Shinyu telling TK. Barely did Kari register this, her sudden need for a nap overwhelming her. Slowly, her eyes closed, and the last thing she heard before drifting off was Dr. Shinyu saying:

"Oh, there's the baby, Takeru, and the heartbe... Huh? What in the world is tha....!?"

**************************

Darkness...

Disturbing silence...

Bitter cold...

With a violent shiver, Kari awoke to these surroundings. "Where am I?" she wondered aloud. She looked around her, pausing only to stare in one direction to allow her eyes to adjust to the lack of light. Only every time she thought her eyes had finally adjusted, the darkness would grow greater and greater. Her eyes were opened as wide as they could go, and by reflex, tried to open even more to allow as much light in as possible. But since there was no light, her eyes just got more and more exhausted witht their efforts. No matter what she did, she just couldn't see here.

"TK?" she called into the vast blackness as she squeezed her eyes shut, tired of trying to open them wider. Fear formed a lump in her throat, but she swallowed it quickly... if she concentrated on her fear, she would never be able to find a way out of... wherever she was. That was one thing she had learned in her lifetime of danger. "TK!!" she called again, her voice stronger and more confident... yet still more desperate. With a forlorn sigh, she came to the realization that no one else was here... she was alone. She needed to find her own way out. Hey, she'd done it before, hadn't she? Why couldn't she do it again? Cautiously, carefully, she took a tiny step.

Solid. At least she wasn't floating on some pedestal somewhere thousands of feet from the ground. Again she stepped out... more solid ground met her feet. A tiny sigh of relief escaped her, and she began to walk more confidently in God knows what direction. She looked down to see what she was walking on, but all she could see were the shoes on her feet. How strange... she thought to herself as she realized that she could see all of herself, just as she could in the middle of the day. But anywhere past her body was... disturbingly black. As she walked on, the feeling that something definitely was not right here grew within her... as did the feeling that someone was watching her. Thoughts and visions of the dark ocean kept flashing through her mind... this was SO much like her experience there. Yet... this definitely wasn't the dark ocean...

A gust of wind blew suddenly, stopping her in her tracks, and her eyes flew open once again. It was so cold. If she wasn't going to find a way out of here, the chill probably would kill her before starvation or dehydration did, as cold as it was. Wrapping her arms around herself, she looked out for a source of the wind, finding none... until...

"Kari!"

That sounded like Tai...

"Kari!!"

"Tai?" Kari called out. She wheeled around and around, searching desperately for her older brother and doing her best to ignore the discomfort she felt from her eyes straining to open even wider than before, now that she was actually looking for a specific thing. "Tai!?" A blast of light appeared from some distance behind her, and, shielding her tired eyes, she faced into that light. There, in the midst of it, stood Tai Kamiya. "Tai!!" Kari cried in relief. She picked up her feet to run to him... except her legs seemed to be weighted to the ground. She mentally screamed at her feet to move, but they just... wouldn't. "Tai, help me! I can't move!"

"Good," he said darkly. 

Kari was confused... her brother had never sounded like that before, no matter how mad he got at her... "Tai, what's wrong with you? Why are you just standing ther-"

"The fear is working then. It's weighing you down, Kari. As is the tiny life inside you."

"What are you talking about?"

"He must be stopped, Kari." A new voice caused Kari to spin around to see... Sora standing behind her, in much the same light as Tai was enveloped in. 

"Who, Tai? What's he up to now?"

"Not Tai, Kari. He that is inside you," Sora told her, her voice growing just as dark and frightening as Tai's was. "He must be stopped... he will ruin my plans."

"Your... plans?" Kari was baffled at her friend's behavior... as well as her brother's. "What plans?"

"Kari... he has to be stopped," yet another voice spoke from the darkness. Kari immediately recognized it. "TK..." she breathed with a smile, and turned her head quickly to face him. There he stood, in yet another blanket of light. But instead of the smile she usually saw on his face, he had the same dark scowl as Tai and Sora. Kari's stare spun in all three directions - to her brother, her friend, and her love - they were all acting so weird. It scared her, but she refused to back down.

"What do you mean?" Kari stifled a proud laugh. Her voice had sounded more confident than she felt, just like she wanted it to. She hadn't been sure if she could pull that off.

"He... the babe... he must be destroyed."

"TK, you've lost your mind. We're not getting rid of the baby!"

"You misunderstand, young one. The babe is the Chosen One... my sworn enemy. I will kill him before he destroys what I have planned," Tai's voice sounded again.

Then suddenly, it clicked. Kari knew what it was in TK's voice... in Sora's... in her brother's voice... that hadn't been there before.

Evil.

A pure, uninterrupted flow of evil was dripping from their voices. That's when she knew for sure what had been sitting in the back of her consciousness since Tai first appeared.

"You're not here... NONE of you are here..." she announced viciously, her eyes narrowed. At that very moment, the images of her 'loved ones' began to spin around her slowly.

"Kari..." the three called out threateningly, "come here, we need to see the baby... we won't hurt it, we promise..."

Kari laughed sarcastically, folding her arms across her chest and refusing to face any of them. "That's funny, I could've sworn you were just saying how much you needed to kill the baby for whatever twisted reasons you have. Now get lost, I have to figure out how to get out of here, and you're distracting me. Or, you could just show yourself right now and we'll have it out, you coward..." With the sound of an autumn wind, the three images disappeared in a huge flash of light. Kari shielded her eyes, and slowly opened them moments later, only to see what she had originally seen. Nothing.

"Very good, young one," a raspy voice suddenly hissed from the darkness. "Although, I am a bit disappointed that you took so long to figure out that none of your friends were really even here..."

"WHO ARE YOU!?" Kari shouted into the air, her eyes flashing as she searched for the source of the voice.

"That is not of your concern, young one."

"The hell it isn't!" Kari yelled. "You obviously have something against my unborn child, and that is definitely of my concern!"

"It is? Well, child, you have enough to worry about already... allow me to take your mind off of the baby!" the voice growled. It no longer sounded human... or even close to human, as it had before. Now it sounded like something... bigger...

A sound to Kari's left caused her to look in that direction. She waited fearfully to lay eyes on the owner of the menacing voice, but at first, saw nothing. She shivered again, but in anxiety, and only then did she pay attention to the temperature again. Where before it had been painfully cold, it was now growing warmer with each passing second. And just as the first bead of sweat appeared on her forehead, she finally saw something... and it frightened her more than she had ever been before.

A huge, blood-red dragon with seven heads and ten horns was bounding quickly towards her. As it drew closer, Kari noticed, along with how hot it was getting, that each of the dragon's heads bore a crown that looked like that of the ancient Greek or Roman rulers. The leaves of each crown were the same color as the dragon itself, as were its eyes and huge, threatening wings. Kari tried desperately to get her legs to move, but they remained stuck to the ground like concrete. "Please God, make them move!" she prayed fervently as she struggled. She could hear the beast's tail slashing at the air and more than likely destroying anything it happened to come in contact with, if anything. I'm not going to make it out of this... Kari thought as she closed her eys, the realization bringing to her an overwhelming sadness as she had never experienced before. She sank to her knees as the tears came, and she could now smell the putrid breath of the monster as it drew close enough to consume her. She brought her hands up to her face, as if it would protect her from her fate, and opened her mouth to scream...

"KARI!!!"

Kari jerked awake, drenched in a cold sweat and breathing heavily. She opened her eyes and looked straight into the blue, frightened, worried ones of her husband. He was holding tightly to her shoulders, and Dr. Shinyu was beside him, clutching the transducer so tightly that her knuckles had long since turned white. Kari bolted into a sitting position and stayed there for a moment, stock still, until finally realizing that it was all right... it was just a dream. She was here with TK and the doctor in the hospital, and no one was trying to take her baby.

"TK!" Kari collapsed, sobbing, into his arms, exhausted from fright and relieved that she was no longer in danger. TK wrapped his arms comfortingly around her, rocking her slim, shaking frame, and looked to Dr. Shinyu, immense question etched into his features. She looked just as he did.

"Kari, what happened? You just fell asleep on the table and then started shivering like you were laying in snow or somethi-"

"TK, it was horrible!" Kari began, talking quickly without pausing, even to breathe. "First Tai was there and then Sora and then you, but it wasn't really any of you, and then there was this... monster, or dragon, or something that wanted to kill the baby and..." Kari broke off into sobs and once more collapsed into TK's grasp. TK looked to the doctor again as he stroked Kari's hair gently, trying to calm her down. Dr. Shinyu furrowed her brow in concentration... and then slowly walked around the bed to stand next to the ultrasound monitor.

"I think I need to show you something, Hikari." Kari looked up from TK's shoulder, ceasing to cry, and turned her undivided attention to the woman. Dr. Shinyu looked a bit longer before the machine and made quite a few clicks with a mouse attached to the monitor until she found what she was looking for. "Was this what you saw in your dream?" she finally asked, turning the monitor slowly around so TK and Kari could see it. Kari stared hard at the screen, and her eyes widened in fear when she saw what the ultrasound had picked up...

On the screen was a small, fuzzy, yet distinguishable image of the shape of a dragon... with seven heads... ten horns... wings that could block out the sun... and a tail so dangerous it could knock stars from the sky. It was such an extremely small image, granted... but it was there, and Kari could see it. Her eyes widened to the size of saucers as all of the color drained from her face. She slowly, limply, lifted a finger and pointed lamely at the monitor, opening her mouth to respond, but emitting no sound but a strangled, choked, "Tha-...!!!" TK blinked in concern and surprise as Dr. Shinyu lowered her eyes.

"I'm going to take that as a yes..." Dr. Shinyu said quietly, printing out the image at TK's request.

*******************************************

A/N: I think this is a good place to end this chapter, ne? How do you like so far? Now you get to review! Aren't you excited!? *rolls eyes* But please do review. I guess that's it for now... until next time! Merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, happy Kwanzaa, whatever you celebrate... happy holidays! (I think that just about covers it, no?)

Kari :)


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